I Don't Care If It's Not My Birthday, I'm Still Drinking This Copycat Starbucks Cake Batter Frappuccino

By Kaley Rohlinger

Published on 5/14/2021 at 4:10 PM

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POPSUGAR Photography | Kaley Rohlinger
POPSUGAR Photography | Kaley Rohlinger

Who among us doesn't love a Starbucks secret menu drink? My favorite is by far the Birthday Cake (or Cake Batter) Frappuccino, which tastes like a cake-flavored milkshake (don't even get me started on the raspberry whipped cream!). If I don't need an energy boost from coffee, this Frappuccino is my go-to order.

Thankfully, at least for the sake of my wallet, I love to bake, and a little leftover cake mix led me to the important discovery that you can make this delicious treat at home, whether it's your birthday or not. To order the drink at Starbucks, simply ask for a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino with two pumps of hazelnut syrup and have it topped with raspberry whipped cream.

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POPSUGAR Photography | Kaley Rohlinger

For mine, I replicated most of the cake flavor with dry cake mix (confetti cake mix, of course), then added powdered sugar for sweetness (and because it would blend better than granulated sugar). I used vanilla extract and almond extract to mimic the syrups — if you have hazelnut extract on hand, that would probably be even better, but I was going for something I could make somewhat frequently. And lastly, the literal crème de la crème of this recipe: the raspberry whipped cream. In a word, yum. In several words, I'm going to make this fancy whipped cream all the time — it's so simple, too!

Just puree about 1/4 cup of raspberries until they look like jam. This will take a few minutes, but be patient and know that all of the seeds and pieces will eventually mush together.

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POPSUGAR Photography | Kaley Rohlinger

Then, remove the raspberries from the bowl, add one cup of whipped cream, and beat for several minutes until stiff peaks form. Fold — folding by hand, rather than beating or whisking, is the key here — the raspberry puree into the whipped cream so that it's gently swirled and streaky, rather than fully combined, like this:

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POPSUGAR Photography | Kaley Rohlinger

While the whipped cream is beating, prep all of your Frappuccino ingredients, blend them up, then top with your gorgeous whipped cream. Get ready to sip like it's your birthday.

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POPSUGAR Photography | Kaley Rohlinger

PS: Not sure what to do with all the leftover cake mix? Try this dip!

Copycat Starbucks Birthday Cake Frappuccino

Prep Time10 minutes
Yield1 Frappuccino

Adapted Recipe by Kaley Rohlinger

INGREDIENTS

    • 1/4 cup raspberries
    • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
    • 1 cup milk
    • 7-10 ice cubes
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 teaspoon almond extract
    • 3 tablespoons confetti cake mix
    • Optional: sprinkles

    INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Start by pureeing the raspberries. Add raspberries to the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high speed for a few minutes or until jammy. Remove from the bowl.

    2. Add one cup of heavy whipping cream to the bowl and beat on high speed for several minutes until stiff peaks form.

    3. While the mixer works on the whipped cream, combine the milk, ice cubes, vanilla extract, almond extract, and cake mix in a blender. Blend until combined.

    4. Once the whipped cream is done, gently fold in the raspberry puree by hand to form gentle swirls.

    5. Pour the Frappuccino into a glass, top with whipped cream and sprinkles, and enjoy!

    Notes

    Whole milk works best for the flavor in this recipe, but you can use whatever you have on hand. You can also use any white or yellow cake mix if you can't find confetti.